Automatic sprinkler.



G. ZINT.

AUTOMATIC SPRINKLER.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 1a, 1911.

i 1,038,060, Patented sept. 10,1912.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

awww/Lto@ G. ZINT.

' AUTOMATIC SPRINKLER.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT.18,1911.

1,038,060. Patented Sept. 10, 1912.

4 SHEETS-SHEET ""w i S11/vento@ @Wye 'Qf ..eegMM/Wm Y l WMM/www G. ZINT.

AUTOMATIC SPRINKLER.

APPLICATION ljILBD SBPT.18, 1911.

Patented Sept. 10, 1912.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3..

i S11-vanto@ fzwazy@ Ziff/Z e en G. ZINT.

AUTOMATIC SPRINKLER.

APPLIGATION FILED sEPT.1,19 11.

1,088,060. Patented sept. 10,1912.

4 SHEETS-'SHEET 4.

' GEORGE ZINT, OF WAPAKONETA, QHIO.

AUTOMATIC spammer..

' f Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented septic, 1912.

. Application nled Septeniber 18, 191,1. Serial No. 649,948.

To all whom it may concern:

, Be it known that I, GEORGE ZINT, a'citizen of the United -States, residing at Wapakoneta, in the county of Auglaize and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and use.`

ful'Improvements in Automatic Sprinklers;

and I do declare the following to be a full,` clear, and exact description of the-.inven-v `tion, such as will enable'others skilled in the art to which itl appertains to makev and use the same.

This 'invention'H relates to l irrigation andi'y sprinkling, and more especially.- to the .sysvtems thereof; and the object ofthe same is;v

t0 construct a plant whereby a'certain area (as for --instance the owners. premises-y around his cottage) may be automatically yet an excessive use of water sprinkled `and be avoided.

Various ei'orts have been made to pro-v duce automatic sprinkling devices as for use on lawns, in small or large gardens, and

even on a larger scale for irrigation purposes, but the -consistent defect which is common to all such systems as far as I am aware is that if the water from any type or form of nozzle is permitted to iow long enough itLwill inundate or flood the area which it reaches, and in order to avoid thisl most systems heretofore constructed 'contemplated human intervention .at times and therefore did require attention. That is to say, either the size of the jets had to be regulated, the jets themselves out oi' or turned on..at times, or the rotary or other4 type of lawn sprinkler nozzle had to be moved/on occasions so as to transfer its area of usefulness to a new spot.

My present invention contemplates the erection of a sprinkling system whose main h or supply pipe is led around the users prem- 1ses and wherein standards rise from said main at intervals, each having a sprinkling head or nozzle at its upper end and a valve in its body, and means whereby the various valves are operated by the water pressure to open and to close the standards successively so that the sprinkling performed their heads is intermittent. The-followingv specification describes the preferred manner of carrying out this system, reference being had to the accompanying drawings where- Figure 1 is a diagrammatic elevation showlng eight such standards with diferent types of sprinkling heads or nozzles at their upper extremities, all connected with a singlemain or source of water supply, and the arrangement of valve-operating mechanism which forms an essential feature of my invention diagrannnatically illustrated in connection therewith. Fig. 2 is an enlarged'side elevation of the upper end of' one of said standards, parts being broken away; Fig. 3 is an edge view of the same y Withparts of its head or nozzle broken away; Fig. 4 is v an enlarged section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3; Fig. 5 -is a cross section 'on-the 'line 5-5 Of'Fig' 45 Fig' 6 is an en' ,larged section on the line 6 6 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 7 is a vertical sectional view, partly in section of a .modified form of the valve of. Fig. 4 which incorporates and includes the cross coupling shown inl Fig. 6; and Fig. 8 is a diagrammatic elevation, much like Fig. 1, showing. the use of thisfmodiied form of valve in `connect-ion with a number ofstandards whose buckets and control pipes-are the same as in Fig. .1.'

-In the embodiment of my invention as illustrated in Figs. l .to 6 of the Vdrawings herewith,'the numeral 1 designates a source of water supply, which in city districts would be some sort of a connection with the servicepipe, and 2 is the main valve therein, the same controlling the flow of Water along the main or supply pipe 3 of my improved system which in Fig. 1 is shown as straight but in 'practise will be led around the owners premises or along those portions thereof which it is desired to have irrigated or sprinkled; and at various points in this main are T-couplings 4 from each of which rises a standard 5 which projects above the surface of the earth any suitable distance and carries a nozzle or sprinkler head 6 at its upper end. In-.Fig 1 I have illustrated various forms or types 'of these nozzles or heads, but in practise one type only will probably be applied at the respective upper ends of all the standards 5. The latter are of ordinary water pipe, of a gage dependent upon'the amount of water to' be passed through them," and of a height and location consistent with the. work to be performed. In the present instance I- have shown a gang of eight such standards, which if disposed properly around a moderate sized garden or upon the lawn of, the average 'suburban home will amply irirgate or sprinklev the same, but I do not wish -to' be limited to the number, size, or disposition of these standards, nor to the type of sprinkler head or nozzle employed.

Located at a suitable point within each standard is a valve 7, the preferred construction Iof which is best illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5. The casing 8 thereof has an internal oii'set 9 at onel side through which the valve shaft 10 extends, the same being by preference mounted for rotation within a bushing 11 which is by preference threaded into the side of the offset 9 and closed by a packinggland 12 to prevent leakage. On the angular inner end 13 of the shaft is mounti ed the valve head 14 which by preference consists of a disk of metal having removably secured thereto a soft and convex facing 15 (as of rubber) ada ted to close upward against the seat 16 which also may be of rubber) when the shaft 10 is turned in the proper direction. When the shaft 10 is turned in the opposite direction, however, the valve head 14 assumes a vertical positionwithin the offset 9 as seen in dotted lines in Fig. 4, and the water may flow upward through the standard and valve casing without interruption. By preference the valve head 14 is connected with the inner end of the shaft 1() removably, as-by means of a cotter pin 17 or otherwise, so that it may be removed for repair when necessary; and

similarly the facing 15 may be connected with the head 14 in any detachable manner, as by means of a bolt 18 as shown in Fig. 4. While I prefer this type of valve for use in systems where the water pressure is not excessive, I do n-ot wish to be limited thereto and it is quite possible that other forms of valves may be adopted in high lpressure lo# calities. Each standard 5 of my improved system being thus provided with a valve, if now means be provided to open and close these valves at intervals and successively along the lineJ of the system, it will be clear that the average volume of water may be utilized to sprinkle rstone area and then 'another over the premises being irrigated.

By my invention I perform this duty automatically or by the pressure of the water in a manner which will be explained below.

Referring now to Figs. 2 and 3, the numeral 2O designates a cross head secured upon the squared outer end 21 of the shaft *10 of each valve in any suitable manner, as

by a set screw 22, and its two arms carrying buckets adapted alternately to be filled with water and emptied and so disposed with reference to each other that the weight of the water in one will overcome the weight of the other bucket so that the latter will ascend as the former descends, and vice versa. The preferred construction of this valveoperating mechanism contemplates a rightangular cross head 20 in the angle of which the squared end 21 of the shaft 10 is secured as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, and dupll- `-cate buckets carried by the two arms of said cross head. Eachbucket, then, comprises la body 23 having an inlet 24 through that end which is remote from the arm of the cross head 2O upon whichysaidb'ody is secured, and an outlet 25 through the side of the body at right angles to the inlet and preferably leadin to a sprinkling head 26 whose outlet per orations 27 are so placed that they open parallel with the inlet 24 of the body 23. The other bucket is similarly constructed, but the right-angular shape of the cross head 2O causes its parts to stand at right angles to the similar parts of the bucket already described. It follows lthat when the bucket atithe right of Fig.V 2 is discharging water through the perforations 27 from the interior of its head 26, which water is flowing out of its body 23 through the outlet 25, this bucket will be growing lighter and lighter as the water runs out; and meanwhile water may be passing into the inlet 24 of the other bucket and will not pass out its outlet 25 int-o its head 26 until it rises quite high in the body 23. When however, the water in the left-hand bucket in this view accumulates to such an extent that it is heavier than the water remaining in the right-hand bucket, the entire device will cant or tip through a quarter circle so that the shaft 10 will be rotated and the position of the valve thereon will be changed. 'The perforations 27 in the two roses or heads 26 are by preference disposed as shown in this View so as to trap the water which flows into an upright bucket and permit the latter to accumulate weight sufficient to turn the valve, and so as to exhaust the water from a bucket which has descended and permit it to sprinkle the lawn or garden in the vicinity of the standard 5, whereas the nozzle 6 at the upper end thereof will sprinkle the area around the standard and somewhat more remote therefrom. My system also contemplates the employment of a series of what may be called control pipes leading `from one standard to another, and these may well be of lead pipe of small bore which can be conveniently coiled around the standards as shown at 30 or supported therefrom iniany other suitable way.

In Fig. 6 is shown a cross coupling 31 let into each standard 5 above its valve 7 each lateral arm thereof receiving a threaded nipple 32 having a wrench hold 33 as best seen in Fig, 2. The fine lead pipe 34 at its end is passed through a sleeve 35 and upsetA at its extremity as at 36 against the end of the nipple, and over the sleeve and pipe is passed a gland nut 37 to make a close water-tight connection between the control pipe 34 and this arm of the coupling 31. In Fig. 7 the construction is substantially the same excepting that instead of a threaded nipple 32 screwed into the lateral arm of the cross coupling 31 I form a nipple 32* which is integral wlth the valve caslng '7 and threaded vat its outer end for reception of the gland nut 37 whereby the lead pipe 34 is connected therewith in a manner.

described above; and instead of employing a bushing 11 threaded into the offset 9 of the valve casing 8.as in Fig. 5 I form the casing with' an integral boss 11l in which the shaft 10 may turn. This construction com-A said plpe is'the same in both diagrams andl will now be described. A Aipe 40 leads from the left-hand or first stan ard A to a point 41 above the right-hand or closing bucket 42 of the valve controlling mechanism con- 'y nected with the second standard B, and a pipe 43 leads from the first standard past the second to a point 44 above the left-hand or opening bucket'of the third standard C. In similar manner a pipe 46 leads from the second standard B back to a point 47 above the opening bucket 48 of the first standard, and another pipe 49 leads from this second standard past the. third standard C to a point 50 above ther closing 'bucket 51 of the fourth standard D. In like manner the control pipes are led from each standard forward and backward, one of them' to a point above the opening bucket of another standard and the other to a point above the closing bucket of a third standard; andthis disposition of the various control pipes is 'continued throughout the length of the series of standards. Without confusi-ng the readerby a too detailed description, it may be said broadly that-except for the endmost standards of the series-each standard has its two control pipes led to opposite sides of two other standards respectively forward and backward of itso that water .rising through the standard in question will be delivered out these control pipes at points above the buckets of said two other standards as long .as its valve is open, and the disposition of the delivery ends of these control pipes is such that they wlll openv or close the valves of the other standards one after another. While the arrangement of control pi s may berleft to the user, in the diagrams. have shown standard A as controlling lt-he valves' in standards 1n B and C, standard C as soon as its valve 1s -open controlling the valves in standards A and vE,

the latter as soon as litsvalve is opened controlling the valves in standardsC and G,.

andso on down the line to the last standard H and then back again to control the valves in those standards which were omitted in the progress of the control from left to Finally when the control travels right. back from right to left, the standard B will be the last of the set affected, and its pipe 46 will deliver lwater at the point 47 labove t-he left-hand bucket 48 of the standard A so that the latter has its valve again opened andthe operation is repeated. However, as above suggested, I do not wish to be limited to this precise dispositiom of the control pipes, and of course the standards may be more or less in number than illustrated, as l3() high as desired with any type of sprinkler heads 6, with the control pipes entirely above the ground line L as seen in Fig. 1 or beneath the same as indicated in Fig. 8,

and with such other changes as may occur 35 to the manufacturer or user and as come within the principle of this invention. y

With the parts constructed substantially as above described, the operation of my improved systern is as follows: The valve 2 be- 90 ing opened, communication is established between the service pipe 1 and the supply pipe 3, but as all the valves 7 will be closed at theV beginning of the action of this system nothing will occur. The valve in the left-hand or first standard A must nowl be set open by hand as seen in Fig. 1 (and the same condit-ion prevails in Fig. 8), water no-w passes up this standard out the sprinkler head 6 and sprinkles an area surrounding the same, .1100

and at the same time passes out its cross coupling at the points 40 and 43 and escapes at the points 41 andv 44 as shown. i

From the point 41 it falls on the back of the closing bucket 42 and o' the same onto the 105 ground and does no harm; but from the point 44 it falls into the inlet' 24v of the opening Vbucket 45 of the third standard C which soon becomes heavy and turns as shown on Fig, 1 (see the position of the .110

bucket at the right of Fig.` 2) so that the water escapes through the perforations 27 and sprinkles the lawn to a small de ree, and in the act of turning it has opene the valve in the stand-ard C.` Wat-er now begins to flow u through the standard C and out itssprink er head, and through its cross coupling inopposite directions at the point 53, the left-hand control pipe delivering water at 54 into the right-hand or closing '120 bucket of therst standard A. By preference the outlet end 47 of the control pipeA standing `above the left-hand or opening bucket of every standard is reduced in some way so as to be smaller than the outlet end 54 above the other or closing bucket thereof,

as best seenin Fig.v 2, and theresult will be y that as the water is more readily delivered above the closing bucket than it is above the opening bucket each valve so controlled will 1.130-

be cut olf sooner than the other valve subject to the larger stream will be opened. In other words, when any standard begins to feed water through its control pipes forward and backward, that pipe which leads to a closing bucketl and delivering a larger stream than the other pipe which leads to an opening bucket, will be more speedy in its action. The result when the control pipes are disposed as above described is that the water flows through stand-ard A for say five minutes before its eXit at the point 44 opens the valve on standard C, and the water flowing out at the point 41 does nothing to the valve on standard D because it falls on the back of the bucket 42; when the water begins to how-through standard C and its control pipes, after about tive minutes that issuing at the point 54 will close the bucket on standard A whereas that issuing into the opening bucket in standard E will require longer to open the valve therein because its outlet end is contracted as just described. As soon as the valve in standard A is closed, the water ceases to issue from the points 41 and 44, the valve in standard B has not been aected, and there is now nothing to oppose the closing of the valve in standard C which in its turn will occur when the valve in standard E has been opened and the control pipe leading backward therefrom delivers into the closing bucket of standard C in a manner which will be clear. It follows that the restriction of the delivery of Water through the control pipes into the opening buckets of the various valves, may be utilized to cause the said pipes from any stand ard to act more slowly in one direction than in the other.` If a user find that his soil is of suchv nature that it requires considerable water, he may restrict the outlet from the control pipes above the closing buckets, and on the contrary if his soil does not nee-d so much water he may restrict the other outlets. If the control pipes are of lead this can readily be done by pinching them with a suitable tool. y

Attention is directed to the speciiic construction of the buckets shown in Figs. 2 and 3. The water issuing at the point 47 falls through the inlet 24 into the body 23 which fills kup to the outlet 25, and it is my intention that at this time suliicientweight ,will have accumulated within said body to move the valve and l,change the position thereof. In doing so thebucket assumes the position shown at the left of Fig-1 and the water in its body 23vflows through the outlet 25 into the rose orhead 26 whence it passes out through the perforations 27 y and -is distributed over the ground in theimmediate vicinity of the standard.- Thus the emptying of the bucket is in itself utilized for sprinkling purposes, and-water falling on the back of any bucket as seen in stand- `weight` will all ard B in Fig. 1 vwill be spread over the ground as it splashes off the body 23; and therefore the heads 6 are intended to be of such construction that they will sprinkle a somewhat larger area, because all water fed through the control pipes to the buckets must eventually be dumped by the latter onto the earth. In Fig. 2 is shown a weight 90 which I preferably attach to the bucket on the right-hand or closing arm of the cross head 2O so that this arm will slightly overbalance that on the other` side of the center of the shaft 21, and when such weight is used it will be clear that if all water runs out of the buckets they will assume the position shown in this view and the various valves on the severalstandards will remain normally closed. Enough water must accumulate within the left-hand or opening bucket to first overcome the weight added at 90, before the bucket will tilt to the opposite position. If this weight be just sulicient to counterbalance that of the valve itself as seen in Fig. 4, the entire cross arm 21, the buckets connected therewithand their heads 26, and the valve and be accurately poised, and the action of the whole mechanismwill depend entirely upon the water delivered to the buckets from the control pipes. However, as above suggested, any suitable form of valve may be employed, and if that selected be of the type wherein the valve plug rotates on its own a-Xis it will need no counterbalancin Weight 90.

What 1s claimed as new is:

l. In an automatic sprinkling system, thev combination with a series of upright standards, a feed pipe connecting their lower ends, and sprinkler heads at the upper ends of the standards; of a valve in each standard, opening and closing buckets carired by the valve stem at opposite sides thereof, and control pipes leading from each standard at a point above its valve, one to a point above the valve-closing bucket of another ustandard and the other to a point above the valve-opening bucket of a third standard.

2. In an automatic sprinkling system, the combination with a series of upright standards, means for feeding water to their lower ends, and sprinkler heads connected with their upper ends; of a valve in each standard, opening and closing buckets connected with the valve stem, and control pipes leading from each standard at a point etween its valve'and head, one to a point above the valve-closing bucket of another standard and the other to a point above the Valve-opening bucket of a third standard, the last-named control pipe being restricted so that the flow of water therethrough will be slower, for the purpose set forth.

3. In an automatic sprinkling system, the

lOO

ards, a feed pipe connectin their lower ends, and' sprinkler heads -at t e upper ends .control pipes leading from the first stand-V of the standards; of a valve in each standard, opening and closing buckets carried by thevalve stem at opposite sides thereof, two

ard at a point above its valve, one of them leading to a point above the closin bucket of the second standard and the ot er to a point above the opening bucket of the third standard, two similar pipes leading from the second standard, one of them leading to a point above the opening bucket of the irst standard and the other to a point above the closing bucket of the fourth standard, two similar pipes leadingfrom a point above the valve of the third standard, one of them to a point abo-ve the closing bucket of the first standard and the other to a point above the opening bucket of the fifth standard, and a similar disposition of the control pipes throughout all lthe standards of the series whereby the initial lopening of the vvalve in the first standard automatically opens the valve in t-he third, the latter in turn automatically closes the first and opens the fifth, this in turn automatically closesl the third and opensthe seventh, and so on through the odd numbers of the series and thence backward through the even numbers of the series to the point of starting;

4. In an automatic sprinkling system, the combination with a series of upright standards having sprinkler heads, and a feed pipe connecting the lower ends of thestandard; of `a valve casing Within each standard a valve mounted on a rock shaft therein, a cross head carried by the outer end of said shaft, opening and closing buck- A ets mounted on the opposite ends of said cross head, and two control pipes leading from each standard ata point above its valve, one to a point above the closing bucket of another standard andthe other to a point above the opening bucket of a third standard.

5. Y In an automatic sprinkling system, the combination`-with a ser-ies of upright. standards having sprinkler heads, and a feed pipe connecting the standards; of a valve casing within each standard, the casing having two lateral bosses above its valve seat, an oscillating shaft `mounted within said casing, a valve connected thereto, a rocking cross head attached to said shaft,z opening and closing buckets carried b the opposite ends of said cross head, -an two control pipes connected with the outer ends of said bosses, one leading to a' point above theclosing bucket of another standard and the other to a point -above the opening bucket of a third standard.v

6. In an automatic sprinkling system, the combination with an upright standard havin a sprinkler head and beneath the same a va ve casing, a'- rock shaft through the latter," a valve head thereon, a right-angular cross head secured to the outer end of said shaft,

and buckets mounted on the arms of said ycrosshead and having respective inlets disposed at rightangles to each other'v ter, a valve-head thereon, a right-angular' cross head secured to the outer end of said shaft, buckets mounted on the arms of the cross head and having respective inlets dis` posed at right angles to each other and respective outlets also at right angles to each other, each outlet being at right angles to it-s inlet, and two sprinklers each connected at one end with the outlet of one of said buckets and havin Yperforations in a side wall which is at right angles to'said end; of control pipes leading from a suitable source with their delivery ends standing at points respectively above the inlets of said buckets when the latter .are in their upright position, and means for controlling the supply of water through said pipes.

8. The herein described automatic sprinkli ng system comprising a series of standards disposed around an area which is to be sprinkled, a sprinkler head carried by each standard, a vseparate valve controlling the 'supply of water to each standard, means for automatically opening each of said valves, means controlled by lthe How of Water through each standard for automatically closing the valve of another standard, and means for timing the effective action of said controllin' means. 1,

9. The erein described automatic sprinkling system comprising a series of standards disposed around an area which is; to be` sprlnkled, a sprinkler head carried by each standard, a separate valve controlling the supply of water to each standard, means controlled by the. flow of Water through each standard for opening the valve of an other standard, means controlled bythe flowl of water through each standard for closing the valve of another standard, and means for timing the effective action of each of said closingmeans to occur later than that of the opening means for the corresponding valve.

10. The herein described automatic sprmkling system comprising a series of standards disposed around an areawhich is to be sprinkled, a sprinklerhead carried by each standard for delivering weater to a considerable distance therefrom, a valve in each standard, a tilting device carried by each standard and connected with its valve for opening and closing the latter, sprinkling buckets carried by said device for sprinkling an area closer to the standard, and control pipes leading from other standards to points above said buckets, one of them being restricted in size so that its time of eifective action is different from that of the other.

l1. The herin described automatic sprinkling system comprisinga series of standards disposed around an Aarea which is to be sprinkled, a sprinkler head carried by each standard for delivering Water to a considerable distance therefrom, a vvalve in each standard, a tilting device carried by each standard and connected with its valve for opening and closing the latter, sprinkling buckets carried by said device for sprinkling an area closer to the standard, and hydraulic connections between two of the other standards and the one referred to for delivering water to said buckets at different times.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

. GEORGE ZINT.

Witnesses:

C. A. STUEVE, l OLINDA KLEIN. 

